New fly rod

[Danoinark]

Terry

Dorber at one time made blanks for many of the rod companies. They made a line for Bass Pro, Bean, I think Cortland and several others that don't come to mind at the moment. I built my first rod on a Dorber blank and the next one will be too. I like the fact that I can go over to the plant in Flippin and weed through all that they have and find just the right blank. They also have all of the components. Their factory built rods are superb and when you go in there they make you feel like your right at home really. Their customer service is unsurpassed. The Bean Double L I have was made by Dorber. Dano

[Danoinark]

I have my eyes on a couple of Eagle Claw featherlight glass rods that are super cheap.. a six six 4/5 wt and a 7 ft 5/6. These are the old bright yellow blank rods. I remember them as a kid and how well they casts, flexing way into the butt of the rod. Just the way I like em. These would make great small streams rods just right for Roaring River, the other parks. You mentioned Shakespere, with that I probably agree, but I have a matching set of Browning Medallion rods given to me by a great friend. One is a 7 ft, 4/5, another is an 8 ft 5/6 and the last is a 8 1/2 ft 7/8. They cast wonderfully and the heavy rod is my choice for night fishing on Taney and for casting to bronze backs too. There are some great deals on what some say are lower end rods and they do the trick. And being the frugal fly fisherman that I am that suits me just fine.

Dano

[Zach Bearden]

Terry this is a 2 piece rod.

[Rusty]

I have my eyes on a couple of Eagle Claw featherlight glass rods that are super cheap.. a six six 4/5 wt and a 7 ft 5/6. These are the old bright yellow blank rods. I remember them as a kid and how well they casts, flexing way into the butt of the rod. Just the way I like em. These would make great small streams rods just right for Roaring River, the other parks.

Dano

Dano, I have the 6'6" Eagle Claw FL, and it is a dream to cast.

[Danoinark]

Russ

Does it cast better with the 4 wt or 5 wt? And your posts confirms what I remember from years ago. A sweet caster.

Dano

[Crippled Caddis]

Dano has heard the story before, even cast the rod, so he'll just hafta suffer thru the retelling.

@ 20 years ago someone gave me an orphaned spinning rod blank that had progressed as far as having a full cork grip installed. It was a bit over 6', ultralight action, a yellow fiberglas that makes you think "Eagle Claw" as soon as you see it. It followed me around for a # of years and finally, to overcome a bad case of cabin fever I finished it out as a flyrod in the winter of '02 just to see what it would be like to make a flyrod from a spinning blank. I just cut off enough cork grip to glue on a cheap black anodized aluminum uplocking reel seat that was on hand, tapered the front of the grip to match a winding check salvaged from an old cane of uncertain parentage and wrapped guides (lots!) on with white silk that diasappeared when Flexcoated. Pretty little thing 'cept for the reel seat and I love fiberglas rods. I lawn cast it with a DT2. No cigar. Tried it with a DT3 and it was OK, not inspiring, but acceptable. Barely. So it languished another 4 years 'til in a fit of boredom late this summer I broke it out again and put a WF4 on it. Magic! I've hardly fished anything else since! I recently broke out a 9', 6 wt. Diamondback to push some weighted nymphs into a stiff wind. Couldn't put the unwieldy, heavy, over-long labor intensive device away too quickly. My hand sighed to hold the little wand again.

I guess the story fits the blind hog/acorn profile perfectly, but it sure is great 'when a plan comes together' no matter how ill-concieved and serendipitous in nature. I'm even turning a nice wood reel seat for it. Might get that finished in a few more years.